Chapter Fifteen

"You've got to be fuckin' kiddin' me!" Gabby's nostrils flared along with her anger. One simple moment of weakness. One simple moment of wanting to make sure Melissa was okay, despite knowing she should stay far, far away had led her to this moment. A moment where she found herself watching the woman she had spent nearly half of her life loving, confessing love to her best friend's fiancée and for that sentiment to be returned. "Where the Hell do you get off, Jane?"

Jane stepped away from Melissa and turned somewhat reluctantly to face her very angry friend, who clearly hadn't understood in the slightest what had just occurred. She felt like she'd been caught with her pants down when she heard herself say, "It's not what it looks like."

"So you weren't holding your ex tight, kissing her hair, whispering in her ear and telling her that you love her?" Gabby scoffed, her fists clenching by her sides. There was an intense rage roiling within.

"Welllll…" Jane elongated the end of the word because she wasn't exactly sure how to answer that, because in a literal sense that was exactly what had happened. "When you put it that way, I can see your concern. However, you're missing some important context."

Melissa stepped around Jane and looked worriedly at her ex, whom she recognised was about ready to explode. Jealousy combined with her protective nature meant that Gabby wasn't about to just let this go and that wasn't good for either of them. "There wasn't a romantic thing about what just happened, Gabby. Trust me."

"Trust you?" Gabby roared, incredulously. "Trust you? I don't fuckin' think so. You're a fuckin' piece of work Missy, I swear to God. She's fuckin engaged to my best friend. Is there no boundary you won't drive over with a fuckin' bulldozer?"

"Don't you dare speak to her like that," Jane warned, instantly jumping to the defence of Melissa. "I appreciate you having Maura's back, but she has nothing to worry about. For the final time, this was not what it looked like. So leave it alone."

"Ain't no way in Hell I'm lettin' this go, Jane." Gabby growled as she launched herself at her long time rival, turned friend, turned mortal enemy.

This time, Jane saw it coming and was able to deflect the fist thrown. She stepped back and ducked the next swing too. Fighting Gabby was the last thing she wanted. It wouldn't end well for her no matter how it finished. "Gabby, just breathe. I know you've got a lot…" Jane was cut off by the blow to her midsection that doubled her over.

Melissa jumped on Gabby's back at this point and attempted to slow her down because she had seen the look in her eyes right before she had thrown the first punch. There was nothing there except rage and she had never seen Gabby like this, not once. This was something entirely new and quite frankly, scary. "Stop it, please." She begged but found herself shrugged off forcefully enough to send her sliding along the floor into the lockers.

It bought Jane enough time to suck in some much needed oxygen and look up. Seeing Melissa crash into the lockers shifted her into a higher gear. Consequences be damned. She fired off a left hook that caught Gabby unawares and floored her. She looked over at Melissa and after determining that she was okay she said, "Get Maura, get Kelly, get anyone!"

Melissa dragged herself to her feet and nodded. She raced for the exit and disappeared out the door in search of help.

"Enough." Jane said forcefully, standing over Gabby who was attempting to climb to her feet, but stumbling back to her knees every time.

Gabby felt the dizzy spell pass and gripped Jane's legs as she tried to climb back to her feet once again, but quickly fell back to the ground when Jane pushed her off of her and stepped away. Gabby's chest heaved under the intensity of her anger, her knuckles flexed and she pushed up off the ground to face off with Jane once more. "I never should have trusted you."

"Look, I know you're going through a lot right now, so I'm not going to take this personally, but you have to stop. You're barkin' up the wrong tree here." Jane attempted to reason one last time, despite the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her this wasn't ending until one of them was out cold.

Gabby wasn't listening. She was a raging mess of emotion. Her heartache combined with her desire to protect Maura had melded into an unmerciful, relentless desire for revenge. She barrelled forward and drove Jane into the lockers, where they both crumpled to the floor in a heap. Gabby then wrestled Jane for supremacy. Throwing several short jabs at the American's rib cage every opportunity she had, all the while managing to resentfully spit out, "You'd really risk losing Maura for that…"

Jane shoved Gabby away before she could hear what was going to come out of her mouth next. Her friend was clearly so far gone it would have been disgusting, and she would never be able to look at her the same way if she heard it. As it was the mere thought that Gabby was about to demean Melissa was enough to fuel her own rage. Jane returned to her feet and quickly gained dominance when Gabby came flying back at her once more by deftly sidestepping and using Gabby's own momentum against her to place her into a sleeper hold. She squeezed tightly, while Gabby's hands clawed at her arm unsuccessfully in an attempt to break free. "Don't you lay another fuckin' hand on Missy ever again," she ground out as she squeezed harder again, feeling Gabby go limp against her body.

"Jane!" Maura cried out in alarm, having just arrived with Kelly and Melissa in tow. She raced over to where Jane had gently eased Gabby to the ground. She immediately knelt down beside her best friend to check for breath signs and to take her pulse, afraid that Jane had literally squeezed the life out of her. Thankfully Gabby was merely unconscious.

Jane already knew she was in deep shit. The look on Maura's face was not one that indicated thankfulness that she was okay. It was more a look of disappointment about how she had chosen to subdue a friggin animal. Because that's what it had felt like, like she was fighting a grizzly bear. Jane wasn't sure Gabby would have stopped, something in her had snapped. So with that in mind, Jane decided the only thing to do was double down on the shit she was in by announcing, "Well, I think it's safe to say she's not alright."

If looks could kill, Jane would be dead. Maura was beyond unimpressed. She thought they were beyond a chance of a fist fight breaking out between her fiancée and her best friend, but she was clearly so very wrong. She glanced from Jane to Melissa, who was huddled up next to Kelly. "Would one of you two kindly explain what exactly just happened?"

Jane let out an exasperated sigh, because it was just Gabby's typical boneheaded over reactionary behaviour, but on steroids. "Same shit, different day."

Maura simply shook her head in disappointment, too focused on placing Gabby in the recovery position to make sure she didn't stop breathing. She rolled Gabby onto her side after carefully positioning an arm and leg to ensure there would be support and then tilted her head back. Once she was sure the airway wasn't blocked she stood up and turned to Jane and put her hand out, "Your phone please."

"I'll just get the smelling salts, you're a doctor, once she's conscious you can make sure she's okay." Jane said, significantly concerned about how it would look if this made it into the system. The paramedics would ask too many questions and it wasn't like Gabby had stopped breathing. "It ain't exactly goin' to look good for either of us if this gets back to HQ."

Maura's eyes darkened dangerously and she repeated her request less politely. "Phone, now."

Jane dug around in her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was surprisingly unscathed. She handed it over as requested and walked away, slamming the locker room door in frustration on her way out. She needed some air, it had been an insane ten minutes and she really wasn't very keen on watching her fiancée dote all over her ex. It wasn't lost on her that it was the same thing she would do for Melissa, but Melissa wasn't likely to ever throw fists at Maura either. She wondered if Maura would ever grow weary of Gabby's propensity for solving her problems with her fists. She knew she wasn't squeaky clean in that department either, but she hadn't done a damn thing to deserve Gabby's attack this time. She sure as Hell wasn't interested in attempting to explain the innocence of her interaction with Melissa. Not while she was still feeling so heated anyway.

When Jane exited the building she realised that the disappearance of three of the people meant to be playing in the game due to start was causing a bit of a commotion, so she took a quick left hand turn and disappeared around the back of the clubhouse. She didn't want to deal with any of that. She just wanted a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts. She knew walking out was a bad idea, but she was already so deep in the shit that it felt like the best decision to put her own mental health first. It was a fucking mess.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath, bracing herself against the wall and sliding to the ground, bringing her knees up to her chest. Both hands went behind her head to protect it from the wall she leaned back against, her eyes searching the skyline in the distance for answers. An emotional ache permeated from her chest now that she had time to think. Things with Maura would be rocky, but they would talk and it would be fine. Their relationship was built on trust. She wasn't looking forward to how difficult those conversations would be, but it wasn't what was gnawing at her mind.

She was stuck thinking about how things would have been different. She was stuck thinking about the damage that had been done to Melissa by her encounter with that psychotic asshole. She was stuck blaming herself for all of it, despite how stupid it was to do so. She couldn't change how she felt anymore than she could change how Melissa had reacted to how she felt.

Jane felt Melissa's presence before she heard it. The disturbance in the air as her friend sat down beside her caught her attention, causing her to turn her head, bring her arms forward to rest on her knees and offer a tired smile. "Hey."

"Are you alright?" Melissa asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'll live." Jane returned her gaze to the skyline ahead of them. She couldn't bring herself to keep making eye contact with the woman she felt like she had let down so significantly. "Are you?"

Melissa cracked a sad smile in response to that question. She was trying so desperately to be alright, but it was difficult, especially now that Kelly was looking at her mistrustfully. "I think I really hurt Kel by asking her to bring you to me."

Jane was too tired to keep up pretences and keep secrets. She turned her head to the side so that she was looking at her friend and explained, "That's probably because she has it in her head that I'm the love of your life."

Melissa's eyes widened in surprise. "She what?"

Jane would have laughed if she had the energy, but Gabby's relentless assault was finally catching up with her. She was exhausted. Even talking felt like hard work. "Yeah that was pretty much my reaction when she told me that too."

"That's… that's wild. Why on earth?" Melissa really couldn't wrap her head around that belief. There hadn't been a single thing that had consciously been about Jane in the entire time she had been gone. It was only hindsight that had given her insight, on that very same day in fact. Kelly was intuitive yes, but to be so bold left Melissa feeling a little astounded.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Missy."

"I'm not even sure I believe in that kind of thing anymore," Melissa admitted, "If I did? I'd say that I destroyed that relationship a very long time ago."

"I'm sorry if I ruined your second chance at that one." Jane said softly, finally understanding a lot of Melissa's pain. Her bond with Gabby was deep and her love changing for the woman would have understandably left her drowning in guilt.

"Nobody to blame but myself. Should never have needed a second chance. I had the perfect love, once. The mistake was thinking I could get it back with someone I'd hurt like that." Melissa sighed and turned back to watch the sky, much like Jane had been doing.

"The mistake is thinking love can be perfect. It's hard work and it's never perfect." Jane shared the lesson that had taken her a long time in life to learn. If she had believed love could be perfect, she would never have gone back to Maura, because their path to love was not even close to it. "You just have to decide if it's worth putting in the effort. That's when you know it's real."

Melissa took her time to consider what Jane had to say and she came to much the same conclusion. It was hard to argue with the logic. She didn't add anything further, instead just allowed them to settle into a comfortable silence. It was the ambulance driving down the road alongside the fence line that eventually caused her to say, "You know we left them alone with Gabby, right?"

"Yup."

"If she came too, she'll have told them what she saw."

"Yup."

"You're not worried?"

Jane shrugged. "I have no doubt I will be lectured on what is and isn't appropriate while in a relationship, but I really don't care right now, because I know Maura trusts me. She will understand when I tell her the actual truth from our perspective."

Melissa didn't feel as confident. "I'm not sure Kel will feel so trusting."

"Just tell her what you told me. She'll be so damn happy, she will have forgotten all of this by morning." Jane really wasn't worried for either of them. Kelly had already shown a propensity for seeing the best in Melissa and if her friend put her best foot forward, which was by telling the truth of her feelings, Kelly would more than understand. She groaned as she realised the fact Gabby didn't was because she was in a really bad place emotionally. "I really shouldn't have choked her out like that."

Melissa didn't miss a beat, "I don't think you had much choice, Jane. That wasn't Gabby…. I saw her eyes, there was nobody home. I think I really, really fucked her up."

"Yeah," Jane agreed as they locked eyes once more, "You really did."


The first thing that grabbed Gabby's attention when she came too a few minutes later was the throbbing of her jaw. She gingerly felt it, it was already swelling up. Jane had packed a punch. It was then her brain switched back on and she glanced around the room, only locating Maura who was right beside her, clearly worried, and Kelly of all people standing back near the entrance just watching apprehensively.

Gabby sat up slowly, coughed a little and brushed away Maura's fussing. "Not now," she managed through the stiffness of her jaw. "You let those two go off alone together?"

Kelly took a step forward then, immediately interested. "They didn't leave together." While the truth, Kelly knew that everyone in the room knew that Jane and Melissa would be somewhere, together, by this point.

Gabby stared at Kelly for what felt like an inordinately long time to the American, but was in reality a mere thirty seconds tops. Finally Gabby said, "I know you're not stupid, Kelly. Those two are together and you two," she said pointing between the other women in the room, "Are being played for fools."

Maura helped Gabby to her feet and ignored what she was saying. She was more interested in making sure her best friend wasn't suffering any other ill effects besides the hematoma ballooning up on her face. "Follow my finger," she commanded.

Gabby rolled her eyes but did as requested. "There, happy? I'm fine."

"I'll be happy once the paramedics clear you of any serious damage." Maura returned sternly. She may have been disappointed in Jane, but she was just as disappointed with Gabby too. "Now, please explain to me your reasoning for assaulting my fiancée."

"'Cause she fuckin' deserved it," Gabby said defiantly. There were zero doubts in her mind that the embrace she had walked in on spelled bad news. Whether or not she was correct about something already going on, she would bet her life savings that there would be soon enough. Realising that her answer wasn't good enough for Maura she added, "I walked in to Missy wrapped up tightly in Jane's arms, and she was kissing Missy's head multiple times, whispering in her ear and they damn well both said they loved each other. So yeah, in my book, she fuckin' deserved it!"

Maura remained calm on the outside, but internally she was feeling jealous and paranoid. She shared a brief glance with Kelly and saw the same uncertainty she felt spread obviously across her face. She didn't trust Melissa one iota, but she did trust Jane and so she chose to believe that Jane was merely comforting a friend. "Did you even ask them whether what you thought you saw was what was actually happening?"

"Oh yeah, because they would absolutely own up. Get real, Maura." Gabby shook her head and had to brace herself a little as a dizzy spell overcame her. "Damnit," she growled, "And why did you call the damn ambos? Now I gotta deal with that shit too."

Maura pursed her lips and glared at Gabby, she had been tolerating the coarse language, but at this point it was unnecessary. She held back from verbally scolding her friend, but she was sure her look said everything needed on that subject. "Jane whined about that too, but if you two insist on acting like children, I will treat you as such. You need to be checked out, period."

"Maybe they can check both of your heads too, for the rocks that must be in them. I'm not stupid. I know what I saw. I know what I heard." Gabby slowly started moving forward, once again brushing Maura away. She wanted some fresh air before she had to deal with the paramedics.

"I think at this point you are seeing what you want to see, Gabby." Maura warned. "They're very close friends, and while you and I may not necessarily understand it, who are we to judge it? Melissa is going through a hard time at the moment and I have every confidence that Jane was merely comforting her. I trust her completely."

"Then you're a fool." Gabby shook her head, this time without a dizzy spell and shot a dirty look at Kelly on her way out the door.

Kelly didn't come close to the level of composure Maura exhibited. She had found a bench and planted her butt down on it. She ran both of her hands back through her hair several times, just imagining what Gabby had informed them had happened. She looked up at Maura who stood hands on hips staring at Gabby's wake. "How are you so confident?"

For the first time in a long time when it came to Melissa, Maura chose to think before she spoke. As her initial thought was to point out that unlike Melissa, Jane hadn't been sleeping with half of the women of Launceston, but she realised feeding Kelly's insecurity at a time like this wouldn't do anybody any good. "Because I know they love each other. I also know that love is platonic, but very expressive. It confounds me at times, but I'm just as sure my friendship with Gabby confounds Jane too."

Kelly wondered how Maura would react if she saw the heart eyes she had seen Jane direct in Melissa's direction, but chose not to mention it. That was her cross to bear, because if Gabby was even half right, Jane was going to be a big problem moving forward and undermining her relationship with Maura was not an intelligent move. "Yeah, confounding is one way to put it."

"Ultimately, whether Gabby was or was not mistaken, we owe it to ourselves, and the women that we love to ask questions first. If Gabby has taught us anything today, it's that acting with only one half of the equation can have painful consequences."

Kelly grimaced at the image that statement conjured in her mind. She flashed straight back to Jane's choker hold and reminded herself to never mess with the woman. She felt like Jane's choice was an overreaction and that meant feelings were involved as far as she was concerned. Jane was more than trained to handle Gabby without needing to resort to such a hold. It was unsettling. She stood and said, "Well, I guess it's time to gather the other part of the equation."

Maura nodded her agreement. "Indeed."


Jane gingerly lifted her shirt and studied her abdomen and rib cage in the full length mirror in the master bathroom. She had light bruising where Gabby had managed to strike her several times when they were tumbling around on the ground. "Do you believe me now?"

Maura stood beside her fiancée with a slightly concerned look on her face, but mostly she was still a combination of infuriated and hurt by what Gabby had witnessed and the subsequent altercation that had ensued. "You weren't in control when I arrived." Maura said matter-of-factly, "If I hadn't called out in alarm you may have killed her, Jane."

Jane let her shirt slide back into place and turned so that she was face to face with her fiancée. "Gabby was out of control. She fuckin threw Melissa into the lockers. What else was I supposed to do? She wasn't going to stop Maura, she was relentless."

Maura understood that. She had heard and seen more than enough in the wake of the altercation. Gabby's attitude after regaining consciousness was enough reason to trust what Jane had to say with regards to her temperament during the fight, but one thing still irked her. "I understand you needed to resolve the altercation without anyone getting seriously harmed, but you were clearly emotional Jane. I'm just not sure I understand why that was."

Jane stared incredulously at Maura, unable to comprehend the huge bias she seemed to employ in her life when it came to Melissa. Of course she had been angered when Gabby had shrugged Melissa away so violently that it sent her into the lockers. She would have been incensed if that happened to anyone. She dare say she wouldn't have found it in her to stop squeezing if it had been Maura in that room being carelessly flung into lockers, so despite what her fiancée seemed to think, she was very much in control. "Why don't you ask me the question you really want to ask, instead of hounding me about how I chose to stop a violent lunatic from harming both Missy and myself."

Maura met Jane's eyes with a steely look. She knew better, deep down she did, but in that moment she couldn't stop her jealousy from rearing its ugly head. "Do you still have feelings for Melissa?"

Jane knew she could put the entire thing to bed with an open, honest answer, which was no, not at all. She loved Melissa as a friend, perhaps even in a platonic soulmate kind of way, if a person were to believe in that, but her hackles were raised and she was tired of the one-sided view her person was taking, because that's who Maura was, her person. They were each other's person and yet the words of an agitated, emotionally distraught, jealous, temperamental woman were practically being taken as gospel and it pissed her off. "You know Maura, with the way you've been acting these past weeks, and you caring more about her than me today, maybe I ought to be asking you the same damn thing about Gabby."

"Now you're just being absurd." Maura spat back irritably.

"And you're not? This is stupid Maura. We've been here for two and a half years together. If I was still in love with Missy, do you really think I would have done the work I've done, and given up the things I've given up to be here with you, when I know damn well she would have happily come to Boston to be with me? I sure as Hell wouldn't have asked you to marry me."

The ferocity in Jane's eyes caused Maura to flinch a little. The words were exactly the kind of words she wanted to hear, but the delivery was aggressive and a very obvious reminder that they were on slippery footing. She sucked in several deep breaths in an attempt to calm her inner nerves, recognising that she was fast losing control of the situation. She should have taken the higher road and not allowed herself to be drawn into unjustified jealousy. "I apologise Jane, I shouldn't have asked that. It was disrespectful."

Jane simply shook her head, she was riled up because they had found themselves on opposite sides in the war between Melissa and Gabby, and there was such a disconnect between them because of it. She would never ask Maura to stop supporting her friend, but she sure felt like Maura would absolutely love it if she were to just leave Melissa in the dust, and that irritated her greatly. She stared Maura down and asked, "Why do you loathe Missy so much? I get that Gabby's your best friend and she's been hurt by her, but there's two sides to every story and you've been a villain in Missy's story but she has not once said a bad word about you."

Maura stared at Jane in disbelief. She didn't exactly loathe Melissa, she was more than capable of tolerating her, but she didn't exactly like her and she definitely didn't trust her. "Have you stopped to consider how you would feel about Gabby if the situation was reversed? You would want to strangle her if she slept around on Melissa."

"Oh for cryin' out loud. If Missy was dumb enough to offer up an open relationship as a means to fixing things that were broken, she'd get what she had coming. It's not like Missy ever cheated on Gabby, it doesn't make it right, but it sure as hell doesn't make it wrong either." Jane was having trouble looking at Maura at that moment. She could feel her blood boiling at the need to constantly defend Melissa and her friendship with the woman. "You've never liked her. You've been quite content she was gone, but since she's been back… I just, I don't even know who you are sometimes."

"Jane," Maura was alarmed by her fiancée's admission. "You don't mean that."

Jane simply shook her head and stepped past Maura. She couldn't stay there any longer arguing over their friends. It was ridiculous and it was causing her to question more than she ought to. She left the bathroom, quickly bounding down the stairs despite the pain that shot through her ribs. For the first time in a solid two years she actually wanted a drink. She found her way to the kitchen, stared at Maura's wine rack before shaking her head and slamming her palm against the kitchen wall out of frustration instead. She needed a meeting.

Maura quickly followed Jane downstairs and arrived to find her pacing back and forth in the kitchen. "I just don't understand, Jane. I'm trying to understand what it is that gets you so worked up when she's around."

Jane whirled on Maura, "Yeah I was worked up, Gabby fuckin' threw her into the lockers. If it had been you she touched like that I'd be talking to you through plexiglass right now. So just consider that the next time you want to accuse me of something just because I'm defending a friend."

Maura went to reply but clamped her mouth shut as she caught up with the implication that Jane would kill anyone who laid a hand on her like that. "Jane," she said softly, in an attempt to backtrack a little and calm them down.

Jane was having none of it however, her mind was already deep down a different path. "She was in love with me Maura, when you showed up in Boston and confessed your love for me. She was in love with me, and she could see I was drowning in my love for you, so she walked away. The last thing she would have wanted was that outcome, but she fuckin' put me first Maura and her reward for that? Being so damn afraid of love that when she found it somewhere new, she ran so fast from it and did more damage to her fragile state of mind. Not to mention that night. That fuckin awful night that I'd never wish on anyone. A night that wouldn't have fuckin' happened if you never showed up at my damn door!"

"You can't know that, Jane." Maura responded firmly, using every last ounce of self control she had to remind herself that this was Jane a little unhinged, and not Jane trying to blame her. This was clearly something new she was processing, which made her actions with Gabby make more sense. "Is this what she was talking to you about before Gabby interrupted?"

Jane laughed a sad, almost bitter laugh and shook her head in amazement. She felt resentment building, and she knew it was unjustified, but in that moment just looking at Maura made her feel so bitter and angry. "I sure as hell know she wouldn't have been in Chicago if she was still with me, definitely not alone anyway and I would have put two between his eyes, no hesitation."

Of that Maura had no doubt. "If wishes were horses, Jane."

Of all the moments for Maura to correctly use an idiom, this was not that time. Jane only felt her hackles rise, because there was a significant portion of her that would have given up her relationship with Maura if it meant saving Melissa from that torment. She had known Melissa needed her, and she had still fallen into Maura's arms anyway. "Fuck," Jane cursed, ignoring the glare she received for her excessive use of coarse language. If there was a day it was warranted, this was it. "I love you with every fibre of my being Maura, but if I had known what was going to happen to her…"

"You'd have played the martyr, because that's who you are, Jane." Maura finished, her stomach twisting up in knots. This conversation was fast spiralling into dangerous territory. It didn't matter that she understood Jane was just trying to process new information that left her thinking she could have changed the past. What mattered was how it was making her feel and how it was making her seriously consider that Gabby might have been partially right. Jane couldn't see it yet, but Maura, oh she could, and she was worried.

Jane was simply staring, her chest heaving from the intensity of their heated conversation, when she got a phone call. It was Frost. She listened to him intently for a couple of minutes before reaching out to the fridge to grip onto it for support, as her legs felt weak. She ended the call and locked eyes with her fiancée who was clearly on the same wavelength, concerned, waiting for an update. "Frost finally got access to the reports, it's bad."

Maura looked searchingly into Jane's eyes, she needed more of an explanation. "What did Barry have to say?"

Jane didn't say another word, merely motioned Maura to follow her to the study, where she leaned over the desk, opened up her laptop and logged into her email. She brought up the email Frost had sent her, the results of his six month long attempt to ingratiate himself with the Chicago Police Department.

Frost had forwarded an email from Chicago's Intelligence Unit. They were crack troops, known for getting results and they were stumped and that was telling, as a result the email included everything. Attached were preliminary investigations, forensic report, photographs of the crime scene, witness reports and anything else pertinent they could pass along. Jane brought up the crime scene photographs as Frost had told her to look at them urgently, and what she saw buckled her at the knees, she would have hit the ground if Maura hadn't been right there with an arm around her waist to help support her.

"Christ Maura, it's all my fault." Jane turned away, unable to stomach the scene in front of her and the very real feeling she had that insisted she was the reason Melissa was targeted in the first place.

Maura helped Jane into the computer chair, and returned to the information on the screen, she quickly scanned through the photographs and then brought up the medical examiner's report and it became all too clear why Jane was taking responsibility. She turned from the screen and looked at her fiancée's haunted face, "This is eerily consistent, but he's dead Jane. It couldn't have been him."

Jane didn't care. She wasn't exactly in a state to logically process all the information, she hadn't even been able to read through the facts gathered by the Chicago PD. That one photograph had taken her right back to all the crime scenes she had attended in Boston when chasing the monster of her nightmares. She was convinced of one thing and one thing alone, that whoever the apprentice was, Melissa wasn't a random target. She found the strength to rise to her feet and she sent a shattered look towards Maura, "I have to go."

Maura placed a calming hand on Jane's arm. "Jane, after all she's been through…"

"She deserves to know, Maura." Jane responded firmly, despite knowing that she had stopped Maura from voicing a valid objection. Should she really force Melissa into talking about that night just because it looked like a Hoyt crime scene? They all knew it couldn't have been Hoyt, he was dead. Frost had seen to that. "If there's an apprentice out there, it might not be over."

Maura would be the first to admit she was no fan of Melissa, but looking into the darkened, determined eyes of her fiancée, she felt for the woman. Jane was haunted and she was going to end up dragging Melissa down into her nightmare when there was nothing to indicate for sure that it was a targeted copycat. It could have been purely coincidental, as surely they would have heard more if a true copycat or apprentice had continued being active. "Jane," she warned, "Don't do this to her. Don't do this to yourself."

Jane leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Maura's forehead. She loved her fiancée with everything she had, but there was no way in Hell it didn't link back to her and that level of responsibility couldn't be ignored. Melissa deserved to know, no matter how it may impact their friendship, because Jane wouldn't be able to blame her friend if she wanted to put some distance between them because of it. "She blames herself for what happened, Maura. It's a big reason why she's struggled with readjusting. She needs to know."

Maura nodded. She wanted to go with Jane to provide support, but she knew that wouldn't make the situation any easier and may only make it more difficult given her recent attitude towards Melissa. There wouldn't be any stopping Jane at this moment. She had to see Melissa and she had to do it alone. Maura watched her fiancée walk away, a deep seated fear taking up position in her heart. If she weren't careful she would lose Jane all over again, if not to Melissa, to the demon that they now apparently had in common. Charles Hoyt.


A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this weeks update. Maura's insecurity is clearly getting the better of her. Do you think she'll open up to Jane about it? Do you think Missy will admit to Jane she's already more than aware of the situation surrounding the attack on her?